The War in Wisconsin Is Not About Money

Linda Kaboolian is lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. She is the author, most recently, of "Win-Win Labor-Management Collaboration in Education."

Updated February 19, 2011, 9:38 PM

Since the fiscal crisis began, unionized public sector employees in many cities and states have accepted unpaid furloughs, layoffs and other concessions with hardly a peep – and very little publicity. Why mobilize now?

Governor Walker isn’t interested in saving money. He’s interested in crippling the unions that didn’t support him last fall.

The rallies in Madison and other cities are about whether working people have any protections against the moneyed interests that bought the last election, not about wages and health insurance premiums. While the rich get richer and middle class prospects diminish, they've seen every opportunity to level the playing field crippled by the same people who supported Governor Walker’s election.

The playbook has been written: block the appointment of Elizabeth Warren who argued for consumer protection against credit card and mortgage predators. Gin up fear about the federal deficit to defund student loans, home heating oil assistance, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Labor Relations Board, federally guaranteed home mortgages. Change layoff rules so better paid workers go first, revoke public sector collective bargaining,

Governor Walker is betting that private sector employees who have seen their wages decline and who rarely enjoy the benefits of union contracts will rise up in disgust against their public sector neighbors. He’s betting the images of rallies will disturb those who love order and work stoppages will outrage citizens. What he risks is that other citizens will make common cause with these middle class workers, be inspired by them and join in.

Governor Walker isn’t interested in saving money – if he was, he’d sit down with the unions and work out a deal. He’s interested in crippling the unions that didn’t support him last fall – while protecting the unions that did.

Americans believe in shared sacrifice. When finances are tight, public employees should be asked for concessions – and so should those who are doing well. But the latest assaults aren’t about necessary sacrifice, they’re about asserting power and these employees know it. That’s why they’re demonstrating: They’re mad as hell and they aren’t going to take it any more.